Birthstone Guide: Aquamarine for those Born in March

The blue hues common to this beautiful stone are fitting considering the Latin aqua mare means ‘water of the sea’. Legends describe it as the mermaid’s stone, bringing luck to sailors and protecting them from the perils of the ocean.

Facetted Beryl from the Gem-A Archive

A member of the beryl family, including emerald, heliodor, morganite and goshenite; aquamarine is distinguished by its blue to green colour.

Many aquamarines available in the gem market have been heat treated. Starting with a yellowish, greenish or bluish-green beryl, heat treatment leads to a stable blue colour.

Where is Aquamarine Found?

Mainly found in mines in Africa and Brazil, the March birthstone can also be mined in Australia, China, Myanmar, Pakistan, Madagascar, Russia, USA and Sri Lanka. The trace amounts of iron found in aquamarine causes the sea like colour and is what distinguishes this stone from pure colourless beryl.

Distinguishing Features of Aquamarines

Aquamarine often occurs as a hexagonal-shaped long prismatic crystal, with striations and rectangular etch marks occasionally found on the prism surfaces.

The Dom Pedro Aquamarine

Perhaps the most famous aquamarine specimen is the 10363 ct Dom Pedro, which weighs an astonishing 26 kg. To this day, it holds the honour of being the largest piece of aquamarine ever to be cut. It was specialists in Idar-Oberstein, Germany, who took on the challenge in 1992.

Discovered by three Brazilian miners in Pedra Azul, Minas Gerais in Brazil in the late 1980s, the original aquamarine was a meter-long. Accidentally dropped it fractured into three pieces and the Dom Pedro was the largest piece from the split.

In 1991, Jürgen Henn from Idar-Oberstein, visited the owner of the large aquamarine crystal. However, the crystal was not for sale and he returned to Germany. In 1992 the stone went on the market and Jürgen asked his colleague Bernd Munsteiner to look at the stone. Bernd sent his son, Tom Munsteiner and Jürgen’s son Axel Henn, to strike a deal in Brazil and bring the stone to Germany.

For a year Bernd worked on the stone, studying the crystal, drawing facet patterns, cutting, faceting and polishing. Before transforming the rough stone into the majestic obelisk, recognised and admired by many today.

The Dom Pedro first went on public display in 1993 at Basel, the annual gem fair in Switzerland. Almost cut up into smaller gemstones in the late 1990s, it was rescued by Jane Mitchell and generously donated to the Smithsonian, National Museum of History, Washington DC, USA. The awe-inspiring gemstone is in the permanent collection of the museum, housed in the National Gem Collection Gallery.

Testing aquamarine

When viewed through a Chelsea colour filter aquamarine give a blue-green colour; different from the reaction of many of the other light blue gemstones. When tested with a dichroscope a blue/ green colour shows colourless and pale blue. The material is dichroic. ■

First published in the Spring 2018 issue of Gems&Jewellery, Christa Van Eerde MA MLitt DGA FGA explores the history of some of the world’s most magnificent pearls sourced in the Gulf region, including Bahrain, Kuwait and the UAE, famously regarded as the historic heart of the pearling world.

From Gems&Jewellery Spring 2018, Gem-A assistant tutor, Beth West FGA DGA, explores the remarkably epic journey of diamonds, and how their characteristic strength is rooted in their archaic origins and resilient survival.

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Guy Lalous ACAM EG is on-hand to summarise some of the more in-depth articles from Gem-A's The Journal of Gemmology. Here, he explores an article on radiocarbon age dating of natural pearls from the Winter 2017 issue.

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With 2018 being the Year of European Cultural Heritage, Gem-A is excited to share Sarah Steele's important collaborative project between England and Spain to preserve and maintain traditional jet workings, which has recently been granted the European Heritage Seal.